Vote looms on Ridgeland’s 3,000-acre development plan for rural land. Opposition is fierce
Motorists have seen the rallying cry in large lettering, posted on homemade signs along Jasper County roads: “Keep Chelsea Rural.” Under the same name as its three-word mantra, a grassroots group of concerned residents is kicking their preservation efforts into high gear as their fight against a “tsunami of development” on a large swath of rural land comes to a head.
Ridgeland is nearing the end of its campaign to acquire about 3,000 acres of the Chelsea Plantation, a roughly 5,200-acre tract near the center of Jasper County that was purchased for $32 million in 2019 by the Missouri-based investment company Legacy Land Holdings. Officials are working with developer Michael Quinley on a plan that would use the annexed land for approximately 2,000 new residential units.
The proposed annexation goes against the wishes of county officials and has sparked criticism from area natives, who cite preservationist concerns and potential traffic woes, particularly on the winding Snake Road and nearby S.C. 462. Organizers with Keep Chelsea Rural argue the tract is an “unwise” annexation choice because of its distance from Ridgeland’s other suburban areas, claiming that construction on the remote land will be inefficient and expensive due to a lack of existing infrastructure.
How fast is this moving?
Following the first public hearing on the controversial plan set for Thursday at 6 p.m., the Ridgeland Town Council will cast a final vote on the annexation at its April 4 meeting. The annexation would incorporate the land into Ridgeland town limits, a move some officials deem necessary to accommodate rapid growth across Jasper County. Ridgeland alone will welcome an estimated 40,000 new residents by 2044, a 1000% increase from its current population, according to town-contracted consulting firm Four Waters Engineering.
The town’s decision to consider incorporating the three parcels is in defiance of Jasper County’s development moratorium, which asked Ridgeland and Hardeeville to forgo annexation efforts while the county revised its comprehensive plan to bolster rural zoning standards and prepare for imminent development efforts. The nine-month moratorium began in May 2023 and county council members voted March 4 to extend the pause through July 31.
But the moratorium was not legally binding for the county’s municipalities, giving Ridgeland the opportunity to introduce its ordinance to annex the land on Jan. 18. Despite a pair of measures passed at a town council meeting March 7 that would ostensibly slow down the process — a required feasibility study and update to the town’s comprehensive plan — Jasper County residents and officials alike have chided the town for fast-tracking the annexation process.
“We had hoped the town and city would allow us the time to complete our work we undertook as part of the moratorium to determine what is best for the county as a whole in this area,” County Council chairman Marty Sauls told The Post and Courier.
Now in partnership with the Coastal Conservation League, the Keep Chelsea Rural movement has seen large waves of support relative to the small community of Ridgeland. Dating back to the fall of 2022, when another annexation effort targeted the Chelsea-adjacent Tickton Hall, a number of resident-led petitions against development in the area have amassed upward of 1,500 signatures.
Grant McClure, the Coastal Conservation League’s south coast project manager, said development plans like this “threaten the health of the Port Royal Sound — a world-class estuary.”
“We understand Ridgeland’s desire to grow; however, sensitive large tracts that are far from the town’s core and which lack infrastructure are simply the wrong place to site thousands of new homes,” McClure said.
Organizers from the Coastal Conservation League are urging Ridgeland residents to “strike while the iron is hot” and attend the public hearing Thursday in opposition to the annexation plans.
This story was originally published March 21, 2024 at 1:17 PM.
